39
How Canadians Govern Themselves
system goes a further step toward securing the
Speaker against any lingering suspicion that
he or she is the government?s choice and that
the speakership is simply one of a number of
prime ministerial appointments. Since election
of the Speaker was introduced, a Speaker can
be re-elected ? and has been, in 2006 ? after
a change of government.
This new procedure also interrupts the custom
of an alternating French- and English-speaking
Speaker in the Commons. This tradition in the
Senate has also been interrupted, for diff erent
reasons. Similarly it used to be the case in
the House of Commons that if the Speaker is
English-speaking, the deputy speaker must
be French-speaking, and vice versa; this is no
longer always true. The deputy has occasionally
been chosen from one of the opposition parties.
age
erit
anadian H
o: C
Phot
The Queen performs many ceremonial duties when visiting Canada.
40
The Institutions of Our Federal Government
What Goes On in
Parliament
Opening of a Session
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aph
ogr
If the opening of a session also marks the
t Phot
beginning of a newly elected Parliament,
you will fi nd the members of the House of
cElligot
Commons milling about in their chamber,
a body without a head. On a signal, the great
liament/Mar
doors of the chamber are slammed shut. They
are opened again after three knocks, and the
y of Par
Usher of the Black Rod arrives from the Senate.
o: Libr
He or she has been sent by the deputy of the
Phot
Governor General, who is not allowed to enter
?Evil to the one who thinks evil,? motto of the Order of
the Commons, to announce that the Governor
the Garter, is inscribed on the Black Rod. It is used to
General desires the immediate attendance
knock on the door of the House of Commons when
of Honourable Members in the Chamber of
the House is summoned to the Senate.
the Honourable the Senate. The members
then proceed to the Senate Chamber, where
the Speaker of the Senate says: ?I have it in
Crown?s confi rmation of all the traditional
command to let you know that His Excellency
rights and privileges of the Commons.
[Her Excellency] the Governor General does
The Speaker of the Senate delivers that
not see fi t to declare the causes of his [her]
confi rmation, and the Governor General
summoning the present Parliament of Canada
delivers the Speech from the Throne, partly in
until the Speaker of the House of Commons
English, partly in French.
shall have been chosen according to law.? The
members then return to their own chamber
